Silhouette

Today's butterfly was one of those easy to make but really hard to photograph butterflies.   I punched holes in black paper of a butterfly silhouette.  Then... Amy held the paper, Mark held the  flashlight and I tried to take a picture of the light coming out of the holes.    Funny thing happened though, the light coming through the paper was not as strong as the reflection of the paper in my granite countertop -- go figure.  So I attempted to photograph the reflection on a "Candlelight" setting on my camera. 

If you zoom in on the picture you may be able to see some of both butterflies.

Get Healthy Butterfly

Well everyone was sick except for Megan (that included me!).  I've decided to send some of these babies in their lunches for the next few weeks!!

Glasses, Lots of Glasses

Sorry for the delay in posting. I had 3 kids and 1 husband sick within a period of three days. It was a little crazy here.

Today's butterfly is a collection of glasses on top of a glass picnic table. I took the picture from underneath the table. Unfortunately, I had to take the picture sideways to get it all to fit.

Who wants to play ball?

Another great day in NJ. Cleaning out the toys in the garage and I found a nice collection of balls to make my butterfly.

Tomorrow is Evan's First Communion. I'm not sure I'll get a butterfly done but I'll try!

Chalky

The hardest part if this butterfly was finding something to stand on to take the photo!

Hula La Hoop Butterfly

To nice to be inside today. It's 60 degrees with a slight breeze. So a made butterflies from things in the garage.

A few hula hoops, frisbees, jump rope and voila!!

Safety Fly

I've been saving this one for a few weeks now. I have a huge collection of safety pins - let me know if you ever need one. It must be my girl scout training to purchase oversized boxes of safety pins and matches!!

Stand On Your Head

This butterfly was hanging upside down in a new book about butterflies that I picked up. It was so graceful looking, I just had to sketch it.

What a different view of the world when you hang upside down!

Sockious Butterfly

Since I spent most of the evening doing laundry I thought I could do a butterfly with something from the piles. The socks are always last (I really hate matching socks) so I thought I could use them.

From the looks of this picture I would say some of my kids need new socks!!

Shroomy Butterfly

This one was a request from Megan. I was making Chicken Marsala and I had a real nice pile of mushrooms to work. The funniest part is that this is butterfly number two since Adam said the first one wasn't good enough. He thought I could better. He was right, I like this one much better.

Sometimes it's good to have someone push you a little harder!

Mahlon Dickerson Reservation

I left a butterfly for follow hikers on a trail that I will be "adopting" and blazing in Mahlon Dickerson Reservation for the next two years. I hope someone enjoyed it!

Tegan Made Me Do It

My niece Tegan is visiting us (yeah!) and she suggested that I make one out of flowers. These were from a flower arrangement from Easter.

BTW, I missed doing my butterfly yesterday. I'm blaming it on four kids and my inability to remember things!

Strong Butterfly

This idea came from a doodle book that I picked up a while back. The kids flip through it and draw pictures every now and again. I wanted to go for a little humor tonight.

Pencils & Erasers

I can't believe this is what's left of that 48 count colored pencil set!

Duct tape is Awesome

Yes, it's true. You can make anything with duct tape. Adam suggested that I make this one since I had used duct tape to tie up sections of our basement carpet for the dumpster. An unfortunate event with the sewer system required that it be removed. Lucky for me Mark took out the stinky section!

Reflections on 100 Butterflies

Today's post is a reflection of things that I have learned over the last 100 days of butterfly making.   I hope you enjoy the notes.   Thank you to all that have supported me thus far.   You make this journey even more fun!!

If you have a favorite --- name it and its yours!

Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a joyous Easter with family and friends!

The Iron Butterfly

Today's post is not my own creation, but I thought it was so neat that I wanted to post it.  There are five of these metal butterflies and dragonflies on the road that heads toward the Philadelphia Zoo.   This city has such an amazing display of outside art.  I'm sure the photo doesn't do it justice, we were on top of a tour bus!!

Nappi Butterfly

We're on vacation on Philly so I'm having to improvise tonight. The apartment has a nice collection of napkins so here we are.

Go Phillies! Just kidding!!

Butterfly ornament

I made this shiny butterfly out of a piece of nickel - 24 gauge. This project would have been a lot easier with the right tools. I had super size tin snips and miniature metal files. Slow and steady gets the job done.

Shelly

We find the nicest shells when we go to the Jersey shore (no, I've never met Snookie or The Situation). I'm always amazed at the size of the shells and how many are not broken. I really need to find a cool craft to do with them!!

Rolls

Hard to believe that I've been collecting these toilet paper tubes for weeks and I still don't have quite enough. I would have liked to do this one as an open wing - oh well.

So, I'm only a few days away from doing my 100th butterfly. I can't believe it. I have a surprise for number 100, so you won't want to miss it!

Jelly Bean Butterfly

I picked up a book on sketching yesterday and a comment really stuck with me. Basically, the author (artist) recommends getting in touch with our inner child to draw. Sometimes we have too many adult perceptions that get in the way of our creativity. He's so right.

Today was one for the kid in me. I made a point of eating a few jelly beans as I worked. I know my kids would have. I plan on making a point of listening to my kids and my inner kid as I continue on this journey.

Snowy marshmallowis

Did you know that stale marshmallows are really easy to cut? My kids were helpful by leaving the bags of marshmallows open so I had plenty of stale ones to work with! The best part was that I didn't feel the need to eat them!

Taenaris Catops

Sorry for the delay in posting. I forgot to make one yesterday. Today I went and picked up a color photo book of butterflies. I was getting bored of drawing the same ones. This one has these spots that look just like eyes. What a great defense mechanism.

Tiger Butterfly

I was in the mood to use watercolors today. Halfway through painting it reminded me of our cat named Tiger. He was an yellow and orange tabby cat. The points at the top of the wings remind me of ears. I think I'm mixing up my animals!

Call me shy

This is the butterfly that you can't see. I carved it into the ice - easy enough. Then I tried to get a photo - not so easy. I tried dipping it into baking soda, hoping that it would stick to the flat part - nope. Then I tried laying it on paper hoping it would make a print - nope. Then I tried dipping it in dye to make a print - nope.

So, you'll just have to believe me that it was there. Honest.

Teeny Butterfly

Today I was in the mood to make a small butterfly, really small. I carved this into an Oreo. I decided to be kind and use a broken one, so it's only on a half a cookie. I put the quarter next to it for size perspective.

The best part is that I don't have to worry about storing this one!!

This Butterfly is A-Peeling

AKA... Banana butterfly II. Of course, recycling is a big thing so I thought using the entire fruit was as close to recycling as I was going to get today.

Paris

Never been. How about you? At least I can pretend when I paint since this is the label in my easel!!

Patches

These are the eye patches that Amy wore went she was in Kindergarten and First grade. Fortunately we are done with them! Her eyes have strengthened and seem to be staying that way. Yay!!

I'm sure Amy would rather do this with the patches instead of wearing them.

Cookie Dough

Mmmm, cookie dough. Megan made us chocolate chip cookies tonight. I borrowed some of the dough to make my butterfly. Then I returned it to the pot to make more cookies!!

Whiny

I've been collecting these for my niece. She's going to make a dart board with wine corks. I'm wondering if the desire to make things is a gene? I have some very creative people in my family tree!

Personally, I think they will make a much cooler looking dart board!

Banan-a-fly

It's so much fun playing with your food! Go ahead, try making something with your breakfast or lunch tomorrow!

Then you get to eat it!

Only the Shadow Knows

Focus on the shadow.....

A few months ago, I was admiring the shadow on the ceiling of my dining room.  I've been obsessed with trying to figure out how to do a butterfly with shadows and reflections.  An idea occurred to me to use my pretty crystal glassware.   So in the dark of dining room, I played with a flashlight and my crystal.  Now, I can cross this one off my list!!

Tootsie II

Well, as expected the Tootsie Rolls had to be eaten. So I asked them to save the wrappers. I folded them and twirled them around a pencil to make Tootisie II.

Tootsie

I was handing out Tootsie Rolls at the craft fair today. Fortunately, I had enough left over to make this butterfly. I won't need to find a place to put this one!

Finger Painting

Wow, not sure how old I was when I last did finger painting! I know I cleaned up some messy kids afterwards but I didn't get in on the fun.

The blue mark is my finger printing signature!

Chex Mix II

Today's butterfly is brought to you by the creators in Amy's 3rd grade class.   When I went into Amy's class I gave them each a handful of Chex Mix and they each made their own creations.  Some were butterflies, people, monsters, scenery and names.  It was great fun spending time in their class and since I took a photo of each creation I thought a photo collage would be a nice tribute to their creativity!!

Glow PC-Fly

This is my radioactively charged butterfly. Of course, I produced it within the safety of my pc so no one will be harmed.  Ooh, what fun you can have on the pc.  Some of these are new features found in Microsoft Word 2010 are really cool!!

Butterfly in Black and White

I'm loving this butterfly project. Today I saw this art medium and I thought "hey, I should try this out". And I did. I used a precision cutting knife to slice shapes into card stock paper. Each shape is bent up to show the construction paper below for contrast.

Before, I would see cool things and not really register a reaction. They were enjoyable to look at but that was it. Now I want to roll up my sleeves and try most things!

Rubber Band Man

I always knew there was a reason why I kept the rubber bands from the mail delivery but I didn't realize this was it! I have to say I'm very fortunate that there is a bounty of "collections", of all varieties. It's not likely that I'll run out of material any time soon.

Butterfly ABC's

Today's butterfly is made with letters and numbers. Can you guess which ones?

Hint: there are two letters and two numbers.

Rainbow Butterfly

I love the crafts of our childhood. They are so simple yet I think they allow you to be expressive. I drew an outline of the butterfly with glue then wrapped small squares of tissue around the end of a pencil. I plopped it down on the glue and presto, you have a picture starting to form!
Amy used the excess tissue squares to make her own butterfly!

Tooly the Butterfly

My daughter's friend suggested that I make a butterfly with tools! I've used tools for a lot of projects but this is a first.

Let me know if you need to borrow anything!

Smiley

One of my 3rd grade friends suggested that I make one with a smiley face. What a happy butterfly! Put on your happy face today!

BottleCap Butterfly

I never realized how many collections my kids had until I started this project. They have all offered to let me use their collections as long as I pick them up. They don't want any extra chores! Who can blame them!

Anime Butterfly

My first attempt anima drawing! My niece is awesome at this style of drawing and has won awards. It's a Japanese style of animated drawing. I'll be looking for some pointers next time she visits! I've been told it's all in the eyes and mouth.

Grandma's Birthday Butterfly

Grandma's birthday is today. So I used one of her favorite flowers for my butterfly. She has a huge display of tulips and daffodils every year in her front yard.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!